The Cost of Ambition Is Always on Media Mogul Amy Dubois Barnett's Mind
We asked the 'If I Ruled the World' author to tell us about the books that she thinks explore career growth in a nuanced way.
When you're looking to get lost in a book, sometimes you need your reading material to match your mood. With Marie Claire's series "Buy the Book," we do the heavy lifting for you. We're offering curated, highly specific recommendations for whatever you're looking for—whether you're in your feels or hooked on a subgenre trending on #BookTok.
In this author-curated rendition, Amy Dubois Barnett—magazine editor and author of If I Ruled the World—shares her favorite books about the cost of ambition.
Even as she became a media mogul, former Ebony editor-in-chief Amy DuBois Barnett knew fiction would never stop calling to her.
Nearly three decades after DuBois Barnett earned an MFA in creative writing at Columbia and quickly ascended in media after graduation—in a matter of years, she went from the lifestyle editor at Essence to becoming the first African-American woman to lead a major magazine as Teen People’s editor-in-chief—she’s released her debut novel. Inevitably, the highly anticipated book, If I Ruled the World (out January 27), is set in the N.Y.C. cultural sphere she knows well, centering on a young editor who leaves a role at a legacy publication to try to save a struggling hip-hop outlet in 1999.
DuBois Barnett tells Marie Claire over email that she’s been sitting on the idea—and even wrote the first 100 pages—in the early aughts when she was at Teen People. Nevertheless, If I Ruled the World finally arrives at a time when readers and writers alike are expressing nostalgia for the golden era of print. (Last year, Michael M. Grynbaum’s nonfiction work about Condé Nast’s heyday, Empire of the Elite, and longtime Vanity Fair head Graydon Carter's memoir, When the Going Was Good, became instant bestsellers.)
“Magazines weren’t just reporting on culture, they were creating it,” says the former Harper’s Bazaar deputy editor of the Y2K moment in which her book is set. But beyond capturing that, DuBois Barnett notes how essential it was to depict how it could feel like a double-edged sword to work in those environments.
“It was an era of gatekeeping and ambition, where power was centralized and often unchecked—and where young women were expected to be brilliant, tireless, stylish, and grateful all at once. The nostalgia tends to flatten that time into glossy aesthetics, but I wanted readers to feel both the seduction and the cost of being at the center of that world,” she says. “While my novel is a behind-the-scenes look at a defining cultural era, its deeper themes—misogyny in the music industry, the cost of ambition for women, and the struggle to claim your voice inside powerful systems—feel especially resonant right now.”
DuBois Barnett says she’s learned a lot about ambition over the course of her career—like how it’s “never free” and how it often changes “so you still recognize yourself on the other side.” But because the cost of ambition has always been at the top of the author's mind—and something her character Nikki Rose also wrestles with—we asked her to share her favorite books on the topic. Below, find her selections—including the source material for several beloved book-to-movie adaptations and a Zadie Smith classic.
"A glossy primer on ambition as endurance sport. The Devil Wears Prada captures the moment when proximity to power feels like success—until you realize you’re paying in sleep, dignity, and your sense of self. A cautionary tale about fame by association and how quickly 'just paying dues' becomes a lifestyle."
"Fame is intoxicating, but it’s also a messy group project. Daisy Jones & The Six explores what happens when raw talent collides with ego, addiction, and gendered double standards in the music industry. Not everyone survives the spotlight intact."
"This novel understands that fame isn’t neutral, it’s political. Walton unpacks how race, gender, and power shape whose art gets celebrated and whose gets erased. The price of ambition here is steep, especially for Black women navigating white-dominated creative spaces where 'genius' often comes with invisible conditions."
"A sharp, uncomfortable look at ambition in the era of 'representation.' Senna skewers the desire for visibility and validation in elite cultural spaces, asking what gets lost when success requires constant self-editing. The novel understands that representation comes with fine print—and that ambition often demands strategic self-erasure."
"Swing Time is about ambition in the shadow of someone else’s spotlight. Smith examines talent, proximity to fame, and the quiet resentments that grow when you orbit greatness but never quite touch it. It’s a study in what happens when ambition doesn’t fail; it just stalls, quietly, while you watch someone else take off."
"Not all ambition is loud. This novel explores the desire for a rich, meaningful life, and the subtle disappointment that can linger even when things go 'right.' Fame isn’t the goal, but success still sends an invoice, especially for women navigating impossible expectations."
"Egan’s nonlinear masterpiece captures ambition across time: before, during, and after the moment passes. Fame is fleeting, relevance is brutal, and the industry always moves on. The book understands that the real cost of ambition isn’t failure, but what happens when success doesn’t last the way you thought it would."
